The relationship between Food Defense, Food Safety, and Food Security

In order to avoid, defend, minimise, react to and recover from risks and hazards of greatest risk to food supply, it is critical that preparedness activities involve food protection, food protection and food security. Although there are significant variations between all three principles, a holistic strategy addressing food safety, food defence and food security concerns enhances stability and preserves public health.

Significant Incident Preparedness and Response Staff 

The primary roles of SIPRS 

Food protection remains a focus of the FSIS. The Significant Incident Preparedness and Response Staff (SIPRS) at FSIS works with government departments at all levels, business and other organisations to establish and enforce plans to deter, secure, minimise, react to and recover from deliberate pollution of food sources. FSIS supports food protection by empowering institutions to willingly embrace a functional food protection plan; to incorporate food protection activities (including internal , external and management security measures); and to perform planning and preparedness exercises.

The FSIS takes care of the following, but not limited to:

• Conducting vulnerability assessments;
• Collaborating with Federal, state, local, and tribal governments, industry, and academic partners to promote food defense;
• Developing and sharing guidance for developing and maintaining food defense practices, including functional food defense plans;
• Identifying and implementing countermeasures and mitigation strategies;
• Conducting analysis of food defense surveillance data;
• Maintaining close relationships with the intelligence and law enforcement communities to educate collectors and analysts on food defense to better inform their work and enhance the exchange of information (e.g., Commercial Targeting and Analysis Center(CTAC), Infragard); and
• Working with the scientific community on food defense research initiatives, integrated project teams, and risk assessment workgroups.

FSIS inspection programme workers conduct food safety activities in all controlled institutions to locate weaknesses that can contribute to malicious contamination of the substance. These tasks often allow FSIS to identify the food protection strategies that are being adopted by industry, thereby having a deeper view of preparedness and eventually directing outreach and education activities. The mission details was used to advise Measure 1.1.4.1 of the FSIS Strategic Plan 2017-2021, which calculates the number of establishments that retain food defence activities.

In the case of food goods not controlled by FSIS, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) partners alongside other government departments and private sector companies to help minimise the likelihood of tampering or other harmful, illegal or terrorism acts on food and cosmetic materials. The FDA provides a broad selection of food safety strategies and services, including the Food Protection 101 online course.

Where does Cyber Security come into the picture with food production?

Agriculture originated in unique areas where it was necessary to plant. But with the aid of technologies, citizens have been able to extend optimally growing worlds to regions where they have not been possible before. The same is true of the various kinds of livestock. Although, sadly, attackers wishing to disrupt the food processing mechanism will easily change the environmental conditions to damage crops or even kill livestock. For eg, in February 2015, US$ 1.7 million worth of chickens were killed when a dissatisfied contract grower tampered with the temperature settings of chicken houses in a farm in South Carolina, U.S.A. And in July 2018, 1,200 pigs died in an automated pig barn in the Netherlands when the temperature alarm was ignored.

The usage of IoT in food processing is undoubtedly advantageous, but important cyber protection problems can not be ignored. As IoT-related challenges are relatively new to this sector, many individuals and companies are not prepared for, or even informed of, market-specific risks.

What is food defense and is it important? (in the USA)

Food safety is the security of food items against pollution or adulteration that is meant to inflict damage to public health or create economic disturbance.

The food system in the United States continues to grow in size, variability and dependency on intertwined domestic and global processes. Around the same time, the danger environment and possible causes of deliberate adulteration continue to grow and raise uncertainty, which will potentially have a strong effect on public health and the economy.

Global food supply chain accountability is spread through all levels of government (foreign and domestic) and by joint, public-private collaborations with industry. Developing robust risk control programmes to secure food sources sets the groundwork for mitigating public health and economic effects and effectively encourages food sustainability and resilience.